Sweetest Sunrise
by A Whisper Of Grace
Summary: Begins five years after BD, as Renesmee ages Bella and Edward begin to feel the need to move on. Includes all the Cullens and Jacob. On hiatus, sorry guys
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So. I was going to wait until I'd finished my other things before writing this, but those others were pretty much all lemony and I wasn't in the mood to write smut. So here's Chapter One, don't know when Chapter Two will be up, could be in a couple of days, could be in a week or two. The only way I can see myself writing much is if I'm really bored, if I get really stuck on it, or if I get reviews.**

**Hope it's all right.**

**By the way, if anyone can tell me how to stop the first bit repeating I would love to know. It's getting on my nerves.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, or any of the characters. I just like to borrow them, I'll give them back I promise.**

Chapter One: Running Out

BPOV

As the house began to come into sight, I slowed down and reached out to grab Edward's hand. He smiled down at me, then stopped completely and pulled me into his arms. Many things had changed over the past five years, but this hadn't in the slightest. Edward and I still couldn't get enough of each other. At the moment there was no sexual tension in the air, just a comfortable contentment. We were on our way back from hunting and the pure gold of his eyes always made me smile. It had been an exciting day when I'd realised that my eyes no longer held a single speck of crimson in them. It was in that moment that I felt truly a Cullen.

Edward chuckled suddenly. 'Jacob's trying to get Nessie to eat with him. She's going to…' He paused, and then laughed aloud. 'Yeah, sure, Nessie.'

I leaned back, frowning at him. 'What's she doing?'

He grinned down at me. 'Well, Esme cooked dinner for Jacob. Jacob was trying to get Nessie to eat human food, and then she decided to try and get him to drink blood. Not that she'd seriously get him to,' he explained when he saw the widening of my eyes. Sure, when he was in his wolf form he ate raw meat, but in human form… 'She's only joking.'

My thoughts stayed on my daughter as we continued our way up to the house, walking at human pace now. She was beautiful, there was no doubting that. She looked so much like me, but it was the parts of her that looked like Edward that made her so stunning. She was only four years old, but Carlisle estimated her to be physically just over fourteen.

As we walked up the steps to the front door, Alice bounded out of the house, almost knocking me over. 'Bella! What took you so long? I've been waiting for you for _ages_.' She almost sounded like a whiny teenager.

I rolled my eyes at her. 'Alice, let me tell you something. Edward and I are what you call vampires,' I told her, my voice clear and slow like I was talking to a child. 'Every now and then, vampires need to drink blood to survive.'

She rolled her eyes at me now. 'Geez, Bella, I'm not stupid.'

Life with the Cullens was… amazing. It was everything. We'd stayed in hiding at the house, using Charlie's assistance to make everyone believed that we'd moved away. Charlie didn't ask questions, and all we'd told him was that if he wanted to see Renesmee then he'd have to pretend that we didn't live here anymore. Although we'd never actually spoken of it, he must have seen the reason when he'd witnessed how quickly his granddaughter grew. Still he didn't ask: I wasn't sure whether he passed it off as his imagination of whether he just chose to ignore it.

As far as I knew, no one was really unhappy about staying locked in the house. Alice was enjoying it even more, if possible, since it gave her an excuse to make up disguises for us when she dragged us shopping. Jasper seemed to be happy as long as Alice was. Emmett got bored a lot, but what he got up to when he was bored was hilarious. Rosalie seemed to be fine as long as she was with Renesmee. The only person that seemed restless was Carlisle: after years of saving lives, he felt upset that he couldn't do much now. Eventually he'd worked out a contract with a hospital a few hours away to work for four days a week, and have the other three off so that he could still spend time with his family. Esme stuck by him and made him happy, so everyone was content.

'Isabella Marie Cullen? Are you even listening to me?'

I snapped out of my thoughts to realise that Alice had been speaking the whole time and I hadn't paid attention to a single thing she had said. I just grinned at her sheepishly.

'Please, Bella, I can redecorate Nessie's room without your help if you really want, but I know that you'd rather help. So as I was saying, I've just found this absolutely gorgeous –'

But my thoughts were distracted again when something caught my eyes over my shoulder. Jacob looked up at me and grinned. Wary, I glanced at Edward, but he was smiling. Unworried, I raised my eyebrows at Jacob.

'Just what are you doing to my daughter, Jake?'

Upon hearing me speak, Renesmee began struggling against Jacob, who held her pinned to the floor in the lounge room. 'Mum! He won't let me go!' But she was laughing.

Walking around a seething Alice, I approached my daughter and my best friend. I didn't say anything, waiting for one of them to explain.

'Jake, please, I need to go get ready.'

Jacob tightened his grip on her. 'Not until you apologise.'

Apologise? Edward took a step forward. 'What did you say, Renesmee?'

Renesmee blushed crimson and muttered something so quiet and distorted that even I couldn't hear it. I looked to Jacob, who was doing his best to look serious while struggling not to laugh. 'Your beautiful darling daughter called me a stinking, filthy dog.'

I smiled, but Edward burst out laughing. Renesmee struggled harder. 'See! They think it's funny. Now let me go, or I won't be ready in time!'

Today was her fourth birthday, and she had enough of Alice's interference to insist that she have plenty of time to get ready. Jacob finally let her go. 'Fine, then. Have fun getting yourself ready for a pointless dinner,' he yelled as she danced off.

Edward and I went upstairs to change, respecting Renesmee's wishes in making a formal event about it. Since her adolescence was accelerated, she wanted to make the most of each moment, a sentiment that Edward and I agreed with fervently.

Staring in the mirror, I adjusted the skirt of my gown. Although we did have our cottage nearby, we still kept Edward's room in the main house, and Alice ensured that it was always up to date. Looking past my own reflection, I caught Edward's eye in the mirror and smiled as he stepped up behind me, his arms wrapping around my waist. 'You look beautiful,' he murmured into the skin of my shoulder, trailing kisses lightly up my neck to my jaw. 'Amazingly beautiful…'

Ignoring the shivers racing through my body, I reluctantly stepped away from him, turning to face him. 'You see me everyday, wearing much less than this,' I reminded him. I was glad that our four years together in a slightly more equal relationship – he was more beautiful than I could ever hope to be – had given me more confidence.

His eyes sparkled. 'Yes, but still… I _love_ this dress on you.' Angling my face upwards, he bent his head to kiss me gently. 'I have no idea how I'm going to last through dinner,' he breathed. If I were capable, I would have had goosebumps. 'Why are we having dinner anyway? I think it's a stupid idea.'

Yes, definitely a stupid idea, I thought as I pressed myself against him. 'Nessie,' I gasped. 'She wants this.'

He pulled away with obvious reluctance. 'We should go downstairs. Maybe then we can be sensible.' He smiled crookedly at me.

We went down at a normal speed – for us. As I stopped next to Jacob he glanced at me and nearly jumped out of his skin. 'Geez, Bella,' he gasped, then muttered to himself, 'You'd think I'd be used to that by now.'

Edward laughed. 'Come on, Jake, you practically live in this house.' The two of them moved to sit on the couch and I followed, smiling. 'Is Seth coming? And any of Sam's pack?'

It had surprised me that some members of Sam's pack had followed Seth and Jacob's examples and spent some of their time at the Cullen's house. Quill and Embry seemed to be the most comfortable, and Quill often brought Claire along. Claire was seven now, and Renesmee absolutely adored her.

'Only Seth tonight,' Jacob said, interrupting my thoughts. 'The others were busy, but Seth wouldn't miss this for the world.'

I grinned. 'Is Seth bringing Lucy?'

Jacob rolled his eyes at me. 'Yes, Bella, he's bringing Lucy. You know, if she sees how excited you are to see her then she's going to think that vampires can imprint too.'

Crossing my arms over my chest, I scowled. 'I like her. She's a nice girl. Sorry for trying to make a girl feel welcome.'

Edward put his arms around me. 'She's very grateful that you're making her feel at home when she comes here,' he told me reassuringly, but I didn't miss the smirk he flashed in Jacob's direction. 'Well, she is now that she's sure you aren't going to drink her blood.'

I pulled away enough to stare at him. 'She thought that I'd drink her blood when I've been around my daughter everyday for the past four years? I'm not a newborn anymore, and even then I had remarkable control.' I turned to Jacob. 'Does she know _anything _about us?'

Jacob just shrugged. 'Sure, she knows. But no matter how much Seth tells her, you guys are mythical creatures. We all are. There are legends about us that she would have heard a great deal more than what Seth can tell her. I mean, what did you first think when Edward told you who he was? Weren't you afraid he'd drink you dry?'

I smiled up at Edward, wishing I could remember that day more clearly. I still had the memory, since I'd put a fair bit of time in remembering my life when I'd been changed, but there was no way I'd ever see it as clearly as I saw things now. My answer was for Jacob, but Edward as well. Although he already knew this I knew he liked hearing how we used to be. 'No. I always knew he was different, but I never once doubted him.' I reached out to stroke his cheek. 'The night he told me everything was the night I realised how much I loved him.'

A harsh coughing sound tore my eyes away from Edward's proud, loving, golden eyes. Jacob had two fingers down his throat, pretending to be gagging himself. I hissed at him. 'You can't talk!'

He laughed, removing his fingers from his mouth. 'I guess I can't. But at least I have the ability to stick up for myself if Nessie decides she likes the smell of me too much.'

I rolled my eyes. 'Like that matters now. I'm here, Edward's here, you're here, Nessie's here. That's all that matters to me.' Edward took my hand in companionable silence.

I caught a movement in the corner of my eye and looked up to see Alice dart into the room. 'Edward, Bella,' she began, her face apologetic.

What she had been about to say was interrupted as another voice spoke at the bottom of the stairs. 'Mum? Do I look all right?'

The four of us turned as one to look at Renesmee. She was wearing a dark purple halter dress made of satin that flowed to the ground, hugging her body in all the right places. Or wrong places, in my mind. She was _stunning_, my daughter, my baby daughter, who was only a mere four years old today. There was no way that she looked fourteen anymore.

Edward's hand tightened on mine. 'You look gorgeous, honey,' I managed to gasp out. Alice looked at me sadly.

I removed the shield from my mind so I could talk to Edward. _This is what Alice saw?_

He nodded slightly, his eyes pained as he looked at his only daughter.

I followed his eyes, looking back at Renesmee. _And Charlie's still coming to dinner tonight?_

Another nod.

I felt a wash of sadness envelope me. _We'll have to leave soon, won't we. _It wasn't really a question.

His hand squeezed mine again as I got another grim nod.

**AN: I hope you liked it! I don't know how often I'll write, as I said before, but it'll probably be soon, I'm pretty excited about this idea. Also, I've written out a plan for the whole thing so I know where it's going, usually I don't and I have a tendency to ramble, but if you have any ideas then let me know and I'll see if it works with what I have planned.**

**Check out my one-shot Imprint, it's about Jacob and Nessie. That's probably not how it'll work in this, but I thought it was cute.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Very, very angry. Extremely pissed off, wanting to strangle something angry.**

**I'd like to say thankyou to the asshole that leaked the first part of Midnight Sun onto the net. Thanks for discouraging Stephenie Meyer from finishing it. Thanks for forcing her to put it on indefinite hold. I really hope showing everyone the first couple chapters was worth it, because thanks to you you've not only possibly denied us, but you've denied possibly YOURSELF the chance to read it all. I hope you're happy.**

**When I first heard that it had been leaked I refused to read it, but when I headed over to Steph's website and saw the notice on there I admittedly read the copy that SHE had posted, because that is the HONEST thing to do. For those who haven't read it, you can get it there without feeling guilty. It may be the only bit you'll ever get, now.**

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all it's magnificence.**

**Chapter Two: How Soon Is Now?**

BPOV

As soon as Seth, Lucy and Charlie had all arrived, we settled down for dinner. I tried not to notice the way Charlie stared at Renesmee; it had been a few weeks since he'd seen her, and she'd grown so much since then. It didn't help how her makeup and clothes made her look older, too. Seth noticed nothing out of the ordinary, or maybe he was just too used to it to comment. Edward sat close to me as we pretended to eat for Charlie's sake, his presence a comfort to my fears. Every now and then I shifted the shield away from my mind to give a comment or ask a question, and each time he just squeezed me momentarily closer.

The other Cullens noticed that Alice, Jacob, Edward and I were tense, but only Jasper had any idea to what extent. I swear that if he'd had the ability he would be sweating buckets.

Renesmee talked with Charlie constantly, brining Lucy into the conversation as much as possible, and I wondered if she could feel it too and was giving us a chance to focus on the thoughts that were unknown to her. Oh, we'd have a great time discussing this with her later.

At the end of the night Edward, Jacob and I walked Seth and the humans to the door. After saying goodbye to the others I turned to Jacob. 'I think it might be best if you left too,' I said quietly.

I expected him to be angry with me, but he must have expected it. He smiled at me. 'Whatever for, Bella?'

I scowled at him. 'Jake, this is something we need to talk about as a family.'

He just nodded, smiling. 'Good thing I'm here, then. I'm part of your family, aren't I? I may not literally be a Cullen, but you all think of me as family, right?' He looked to Edward, who reluctantly nodded his head.

'Besides, I'll be a Cullen someday anyway, right?'

The only warning I had was Edward's quick snarl, but Jacob wouldn't have had anything. Edward's fist connected with Jacob's jaw before Jacob would have even been able to comprehend the movement. 'You will _not_ think of her like that,' he snarled, standing over Jacob, who was lying on the floor. I knew he was more than capable of fighting back, but he was wise not to. Edward's extreme protectiveness of me had been doubled in his daughter. 'You're lucky I allowed you near her tonight with the thoughts going through your head!'

Jacob's face was open and honest. 'I'm here because I love her more than anybody else ever could, and you know it.'

I felt Jasper appear beside me and immediately the tension in the room eased. 'Edward, give him a break. The only thing he felt when he looked at Nessie all night was wonder and adoration. I can't imagine his thoughts being too different.'

Edward slowly backed away until he was close enough for me to take his arm. I knew his fears all too well, but I knew Jacob better than he did, too. He'd never do anything to hurt Renesmee, but he also wouldn't give her that choice yet. When things progress, it would be by her choice, not his insistence.

'You can stay,' Edward said, and he sounded a lot calmer. Everyone relaxed and Jacob pulled himself to his feet, the bruise on his jaw already fading. With a nervous glance at Edward I led them back to the others, who had assembled in the living room.

Alice hadn't mentioned anything yet, leaving it to us. I sat down next to Renesmee, who took my hand and squeezed it gently. Usually, with her on one side and Edward on the other, I'd have nothing to ask for. But now my stomach was tightened in worry and anticipation, and I didn't know how to tell her that she'd have to leave the only life she'd known. I'd resigned myself to the constantly changing lifestyle that the Cullens lived before I'd joined them, and the others had had decades to get used to it, especially Carlisle and Edward. And Jasper, who had done the most changing out of all of us. But Renesmee, and Jacob… neither of them had asked for this. Renesmee had been born into it, and Jacob was thrown into it rather roughly from the moment he set his eyes on Renesmee. And if Jacob was coming, what did that mean for his pack? Seth couldn't leave Lucy any more than Jacob could be separated from Renesmee, but I didn't know the ramifications of being too far away from your pack for too long. God knows Leah wouldn't be coming; she still bore a strange animosity towards us.

I realised that they were all looking at me. Carlisle cleared his throat, an action that was as unnecessary as his breathing. 'What is it, Bella? What has the whole lot of you so tightly wound?'

Alice was the one who answered. 'It's time to move on,' she said, taking Jasper's hand.

'Why?' Emmett asked. I think they knew better than to argue; they knew we'd have a valid reason.

'Because Charlie can't lie to himself about Nessie anymore,' Edward told them. He smiled sadly at his daughter. 'He doesn't want to know anything about how we're different from him. He's been able to force himself not to notice how none of us are aging, and how Bella looks different. Somehow he's overlooked Nessie's growth rate, but he can't ignore it now. Pretty soon he's going to be looking for answers that he doesn't want.'

'We leave to protect Charlie,' I said, summing it up.

Renesmee was shaking her head slowly. Alice's head darted up. 'Don't you dare say that!' she hissed at Renesmee.

Renesmee shook her head more emphatically. 'I wasn't going to say anything!'

'Nessie,' Edward said, frowning anxiously. Renesmee slumped when she realised she was caught between someone who had known what she was about to say and by the person who could read her mind.

'All right, fine,' she snapped, 'but you can't deny it! This is because of me! You've all lived here for almost ten years, and Jake longer, and I'm the one who's forcing you all to leave.'

How could she think that? She looked on the verge of tears. I glanced pointedly at Jasper, who sent a wave of calm through the room. 'We'd have to leave soon anyway,' Edward said, leaning over me to touch her shoulder. 'I was thinking that maybe you'd like to try high school. If we relocate somewhere else we'll all be with you. You could be my sister,' he joked. 'I'm not old enough to be your dad, after all.'

Renesmee was still frowning, but she rolled her eyes. 'Dad, you're old enough to be _everyone's_ great-_grandfather_.'

'It's not such a bad idea, really,' Rosalie put in. 'It's been a few years since any of us has been to school, or even around many people. If it doesn't work out we leave, like always.'

Renesmee, who had looked like she had been warming to the idea, slumped suddenly. 'But I'll be too young to be in any of your classes,' she said sullenly.

'No, you won't,' Alice piped up. 'When we first came to Forks Edward and I passed as fifteen year olds. Bella could as well. Nessie, you look fifteen. Simple.'

Renesmee turned to me, and for once she looked like the child she really was. 'I'll miss Charlie, Mum.'

Wrapping my arms around her, I tried to hide the pang of sadness I felt. 'So will I. But we'll call him, and he has Sue. He'll be okay.' I had to stop myself thinking of how to say goodbye else I'd only distress her, and we were trying to convince her that this was a good thing.

Finally she looked around at each of us as if considering. When her eyes landed on Jacob she froze. Her mouth was slightly parted and her eyes wide. 'Oh, but Jake!' she gasped.

Jacob stiffened. 'I'm coming too.' His words were final: nothing would sway him from this. He, too, looked at each of us, as if daring us to challenge him. Did he really think that we'd even try to stop him from coming? I realised how simular his situation was to what I'd been like in my first few years of knowing Edward. Now there was no question that where he went I would follow, but what would have happened if he'd had to leave, and I faced the prospect of having to stay without him. Would I be as defensive as Jacob was now? There's no way I would let him leave without me. When Edward had spoken to me about imprinting he'd said that it was almost as strong as what we had. I could empathise with Jacob's pain easily.

Renesmee started shaking her head. Her eyes were frightened. 'But what about Seth and Leah? You can't leave your pack behind, and Seth can't leave Lucy, and Leah won't want to leave at all! How _can_ you come?' Her voice broke right at the end, and I thought I saw Jasper wince.

Jacob's face was a mask, but I could see the pain lingering underneath. 'We'll sort it out, Ness. I'm not going to stay behind if you leave.' The pain flickered through slightly more. 'But only if you want me.'

Renesmee gasped again. 'Of course I want you,' she cried, flinging herself off the couch and into his arms. As his closed around her he caught my eye and I could see his hands shaking slightly before they settled on her back. His face was afraid and relieved at the same time. I wanted to reach out and comfort him, my best friend, but I know they needed their moment. Even though they weren't romantically involved yet, they were already beyond living without each other. I wasn't sure how I felt about that, but it was hard to be worried or angry when they were obviously so upset.

I felt Edward's arm around my waist and leant into him, pressing my face against his neck. 'Jacob's always welcome with us,' Carlisle said. 'It will be up to him to sort things out with his pack, but it _will _work out.'

Edward was rubbing soft, slow circles on my back, and I felt hypnotised when he spoke I felt the vibration of his throat against my cheek. This was the closest I could come to sleeping, and it was more than enough for me. 'Where do you want to go this time?'

'How about Denali?' Esme suggested. 'We haven't seen Tanya and her family for a while. It might be good to spend a couple months, or maybe years, with them. What do you think about that?'

'I think it's a great idea!' Emmett put in. 'It'll give us a chance to get to know Garrett better! Do you think he's good at arm wrestling?' he added in an aside to Rosalie. She rolled her eyes.

I turned back to see Jacob gently pushing Renesmee away from him. 'How long until we leave?'

There was a short pause. Everyone looked at Edward, and I knew he was comparing everyone's opinion and making a judgement. This, at least, would save a lot of arguments. 'A week,' he announced after a moment. 'That will give us enough time to say goodbye to Charlie and for Jake to sort things out with his pack.'

'In that case, I need to go,' Jacob said, taking a reluctant step toward the door. 'I need to speak to the pack, and to my dad. I'll be back tomorrow morning.'

When he got to the door he turned and grinned at Renesmee. 'By the way, kid. You clean up pretty well for a freak of nature!'

Renesmee snarled, but the effect was ruined by the blush darkening her face. '_Dog!_' she screamed at him, grabbing a cushion from the sofa. The door slammed shut just in time for the cushion to thud quietly against it.

**AN: Okay, a few actually **_**relevant**_** things! OMG! I've changed the time that's passed since the end of BD to five years. I was basing her growth rate of the fact that she reached maturity at seven years, but I forgot about the fact that her growth rate slowed down, so I figured five years was better than four.**

**Also, when I was re-reading the end of BD I noticed that Steph referred to her as Nessie all the time. Usually I'm really anal about calling people by their full names when it's not in speech, but I figured that what counts for my own stories doesn't in fanfic, and I thought it's better to stick with the original authors style. So, if I ever get really famous for my writing and people write fanfiction for it, use full names! Lol, anyway, from now on I'll be referring to Renesmee as Nessie all the time, but there's no way I can be bothered going back and changing it now.**

**Sorry by the way if this one's a bit disjointed, I was writing in like ten minute bursts between sleep, school, work and sleep. Funny story that you probably don't care about: I had my yr 12 Drama moderation last night, worth 30 of my mark, and whenever I wasn't actually doing anything in the play I was trying to think of what to do with this. Hopefully I don't fail because of you! Anyway, hope you liked it; I know it's not heaps exciting yet but it'll get there.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Okay, to apologise for the delay in the last chapter, I've already got you another one! For some reason it wouldn't let me upload any new chapters to Sweetest Sunrise on my computer at home, and I discovered this Friday night. School's not till Monday, but then Monday I was sick and didn't go to school. So that's why it's here Tuesday morning, and I felt bad enough that I wrote this chapter last night for you. It's a bit more Bella/Edward than the others, I felt bad for not focusing so much more on them. But then afterwards, I feel bad for not putting Nessie or Jake in here, since it's REALLY about them. I can't help it. Edward's just too sexy not to write him and Bella in more.**

**Haha, this is totally pointless, but I watched Untraceable today (really awesome film, reminded me of Saw), and I recognised the evil guy from somewhere. When the end credits came on I was looking for his name and while I was doing so my eyes landed on the actor who played the lead male role: Billy Burke! Who's playing Charlie! I almost pissed myself laughing, I'd watched a whole movie with Billy Burke in it and hadn't realised. I thought it was funny when I watched the behind the scenes stuff and found out that for that role he was an FBI, the role before he was an FBI, he said he'd done other cop work before, and now he's Chief of Police in Forks. LOL**

**Also, there's a guy at my work named Charlie Cullen. And his birthday's September 13****th****. I haven't gotten around to asking him his family members names, but I'll get there.**

**Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer. Twilight is not mine… yet (mwahahaha)**

**p.s don't you just love the spell checker on Word? It suggested maharaja instead of mwahahaha**

**Chapter Three: Distractions**

BPOV

Now that I was a vampire, there were a few things about Edward that I realised I'd resented when I was still mortal. Most of them were for his sake, like the fact that he'd always had to be cautious around me when he was hungry, and the fact that he'd had to put the utmost care into touching me in case he hurt me. But there were things that I'd wanted for me, too. I'd wanted to be his equal, and now I was. I'd wanted to be able to share everything, and now that I could hunt with him I did. I'd wanted to be his lover, with no restraints and no caution, just two people heavily in love and in lust who just _needed_ each other with every fibre of their being.

Now, thankfully, I was.

I reached playfully for Edward and he quickly slid off the bed. 'What are you doing?' I said, making my voice as whiny and complaining as possible. Edward stood just out of my reach, stark naked and grinning down at me. Although I had his image imprinted on my perfect vampire memory, I took a moment to enjoy the view. He was muscly yet still slender, his abs pronounced and his shoulders broad. I loved every part of him and was attracted to every part of him, even the little trail of bronze-coloured hair leading down from his navel. My eyes danced over him and I saw him smirk.

'I was going to put some clothes on so that we could talk about what's happening, since neither of us seem to be able to think too clearly when we're unclothed.' He'd turned around to grab a pair of underwear out of the dresser but he turned his head to grin at me, catching me happily appraising his perfect bottom. 'However, if I'm going to be interrupting your staring then I can wait a few minutes, if you like.'

I stuck my tongue out at him, but then grinned. 'If you're going to wait those few minutes how about you wait them a little closer,' I said suggestively.

He laughed but unfortunately continued dressing. 'Haven't you had your fill yet?'

'Never,' I breathed, looking up at him hungrily.

After Jake had gone and Nessie went to bed, Edward and I had retired to our cottage for some privacy. It was almost dawn.

Edward just chucked at me. 'I really think we need to talk about this,' he insisted, and I sighed, catching the clothes he threw at me. 'About what this means for Nessie, and for Jake.'

'What will he do if the pack doesn't want to come?' I asked curiously, reaching behind me to fasten the clasp on my bra.

Edward sat down beside me, already fully dressed. 'He was trying not to think about it, but a few things slipped through, of course. He won't stay behind. He'll try to convince them to rejoin Sam's pack, if they'll have him. He doesn't think leaving Seth and Leah leaderless is a good idea, and neither of them wants to be stuck alone in a pack with their sibling.'

'We manage just fine,' I pointed out, referring to the Cullens. It still thrilled me that I could legitimately call myself a part of their family. I smiled. My parents: Carlisle and Esme. My brothers: Emmett and Jasper. My sisters: Alice and Rosalie.

Edward kissed me quickly – way too quickly. 'Yeah, but we're a little different to Seth and Leah. First of all, we're together by choice; if any of us were to up and leave we'd have far more knowledge and resources than they do. But most importantly, I think, is that we were friends before we were family. Sure, I think of them all as my family now, and we've certainly made up for all the experiences we missed out on if we'd grown up together, but we were friends first.'

'Besides, having eternity to make it up to someone kind of changes things, right?' I said, grinning at him.

He grinned back. 'Right.' As he eyed me he sobered. 'I'm sorry about acting that way with Jacob last night. It must be my paternal instinct.' He snorted. 'Paternal. I still can't believe that term applies to me.'

'Don't worry about it, Edward,' I said, reaching out to grasp his hand. 'If Jacob was thinking anything inappropriate and I could hear it, I'd have thumped him one too.'

Squeezing my hand, he grimaced. 'Jasper was right, Bella. He wasn't being inappropriate. It's just that _I_ could see how she looked, and if I, her father, could recognise it, I couldn't see how he couldn't have been wanting to jump on her.' He looked away. 'I thought he must have gotten better at hiding his thoughts. But there was nothing there.'

I frowned at him. 'You're seriously beating yourself up for wanting to protect your daughter?'

After a moment he looked up at me and smiled faintly. 'Well, when you say it like that…' His eyes zeroed in on my still half-naked state. 'I thought you were getting dressed.'

I grinned at him again. 'You're the one that said that, not me.'

Edward rolled his eyes. Too swiftly for me to react, he grabbed my wrists and pinned me back on the bed. I could feel his sudden need, and I opened my mind to him so that he could feel the extent of mine. He pressed his forehead against my neck and groaned. 'I still say that's cheating,' he gasped, pressing his body firmly against mine.

'But you're so glad I do it,' I replied breathlessly, pulling his head up to claim his lips with my own.

A good hour later we had to go through the whole dressing routine again. 'Look, now we'll be late,' Edward complained. 'They'll start talking about it without us. And we haven't had time to talk about it amongst ourselves yet.'

I wrapped my arms around him, kissing his chest. 'It's not like you _really_ mind.'

He chucked and carefully untwined our bodies. 'You're lucky you're right.'

'So what are you going to tell Charlie?' he asked as we walked, hand-in-hand, back to the Cullen house.

'The truth, I guess, but as little as possible,' I said with a shrug. 'I'll tell him that we wanted to Renesmee to experience school, but that it's not possible here. You'll be there, so you can help me if he starts to get too suspicious.'

Edward shook his head. 'I think it's best if you deal with Charlie on your own?'

I stopped and turned to face him. 'You're leaving me on my own with this? He doesn't distrust you anymore, he loves you like a son, Jasper told me so! He'll want to say goodbye to you, too.'

'Yes, he will, but we'll all see him again before we leave. And although he may think of me like a son, you are his daughter. This is best coming from you, with no distractions.'

I scowled at him. 'You just don't want to hear how sad he is.'

He shook his head sadly. 'No, Bella. I don't want to have to lie to you when I tell you that this isn't going to break him.'

Strangely, there wasn't much to talk about with the Cullens. I'd expected them to make a big deal out of leaving, but they'd done it enough times before for it not to bother them too much. Emmett travelled through each room and reminisced loudly about pranks he'd pulled and things he'd seen in them. It was funny, but I knew that all of them would be subtly undertaking a simular exercise over the next two weeks.

Edward walked me out to the car. He opened the door for me and closed it behind me, always a true gentleman. I wound down the window to say goodbye. Leaning my head against the door, I sighed. 'I know this sounds weird, but I'm going to miss my old friends, too. I know they weren't great friends, and I know I haven't seen them since my wedding anyway,' I added quickly, 'but I'll still miss them. At least here I could look out for them.'

Edward looked at me thoughtfully through my open window. 'Maybe you could drop by Angela's on the way back from Charlie's? I'll ask Alice and ring you to let you know if she's free. You could just tell her you'd dropped by to visit Charlie and wanted to see her while you're here.'

He was always so thoughtful. I smiled at him. 'You do know how amazing you are, right?'

Rolling his eyes, he leant in to peck me on the cheek. At the last instant I turned my face slightly so that his lips landed on mine. He chuckled as he pulled away.

'Get out of here before I find the need to physically stop you from leaving.'

I was at Charlie's within a few minutes. I didn't like to admit it – just out of principle – but somewhere along the line I'd found myself with the same need for speed that all of the other Cullens were obsessed with. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that ending up entwined between a large amount of metal and a tree didn't bother me so much anymore. Of course, there was the cost of the car to consider, but money was little to the Cullens. Thankfully, I'd still somehow managed to not find out exactly how much money I had access to. There were few things that frightened me these days, but that was very much one of them.

And besides, it wasn't like being mushed between a car and a tree would do me the least bit of damage anymore. I'd witnessed it with my own eyes that in a battle between car and vampire, vampire won.

After a brief phone call from Edward promising me that Alice had seen Angela at home by herself all afternoon, I pulled into Charlie's driveway and tried to prepare myself for what I'd managed to avoid those few many years ago.

**AN: Just thought you should know that I wrote this in an extremely happy mood, because Cullenista had updated Blue Moon Over Mankas. I had only been waiting about a week and a half, but I was honestly almost having a nervous breakdown. I have a fear of going on the net at home because I'm always going over our pitiful download, but I've been checking like five times a day for the last week to see if she'd updated. The point of me saying this was GO READ IT!! It's fairly long by now, but it's well worth it, it's the best fanfiction I've ever read of anything ever. It's set between Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, and although most of it's written before BD, it all somehow works in perfectly. YAY TWILIGHT!!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: This chapter's a little longer, which makes me happy and hopefully you happy. I've always had the problem of skimming over things too quickly, but I tried to bulk out this chapter a little more. As I'm writing this I currently have five pieces of work due tomorrow, two which are half finished and three that I haven't started, but I can't keep away! I sat at the start that I don't know how often I'll be able to update and that still stands, so if you're liking this then be grateful while this lasts!**

**Also I need some help from any Americans who are reading this. I live in Australia, the "get everything later than everyone else" country, and we have a different school structure from you guys. I don't know if it's different from Alaska but I'm guessing you guys will know best. If someone can give me a brief idea of the whole sophomore junior senior thing, and how the school day is structured, cause I know from reading Twilight that it's different from ours. I probably won't have heaps of them at school but who knows? And I'd rather what I do have is at least sort of correct.**

**On with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, Stephenie Meyer has that privilege.**

**Chapter Four: Goodbye**

Waiting on the doorstep, I listened to Charlie's approaching heartbeat. Because of what I was, I instantly felt a burning at the back of my throat when I smelt his blood, hidden beneath a few weak layers of flimsy skin. It was in my nature to want to drink him dry, to want to taste his hot blood on my tongue. Edward had been right when he'd said that animal blood never completely sated the hunger.

But as much as I wanted him, he was my father. I didn't hunger for Nessie in the slightest anymore, and Jacob and the pack smelt too revolting for me to even consider the option. Charlie was a human and I was a monster, but I could love just like he could. More than he could. I knew that I'd never be a danger to my father.

Charlie opened the door and smiled when he saw me. Then his face fell. 'Bella, you should have called! Mark and I are going to the game in an hour…'

I tried not to roll my eyes. 'Dad, what are you doing for the next hour until you leave?'

'Well, not much –'

'So I'll stay with you for an hour. I can even help out a bit. How many days worth of dishes do you have stocked up with Sue away?'

He grinned at me sheepishly. Moving inside, I walked into the kitchen and began to fill my sink with hot water.

'So what brings you here today?' he asked, sitting down at the kitchen table. 'Usually you bring Nessie and Edward, and I saw you last night. Not that I'm complaining,' he added hastily.

With a sigh, I looked around my old kitchen. I could have taken in every detail in a fraction of a second, but I was well aware that this might be the last time I saw it and I wanted to savour it. I had a lot of memories from this room, this house, even if I didn't remember them quite clearly. It had barely changed since the day I left, but I still noticed the small differences. To me, Sue's touch was everywhere. After two seconds I rested my eyes on Charlie. 'We have some news, Dad, and Edward thought it would be best if I spoke to you alone.'

He said nothing. He barely reacted at all. So I continued on in a rush, having to make an extreme effort to speak slowly enough for him to understand.

'I'm leaving, we all are. Us Cullens, I mean. We're moving to Denali, in Alaska, near where Carlisle's cousin Tanya lives. You might remember her and her sister from the wedding. Edward and I wanted Nessie to go to a proper school for a few years, and of course she can't do that here.' Midway through my little rant I had looked away from him, unable to take his unchanging, slightly confused expression. Now I turned back to find it still hadn't changed.

We were silent for a few more moments. My hands were still in the dishwater that would have scolded human hands. Charlie coughed lightly and leaned back in his chair, causing it to creak in protest. 'Well it's not like I wasn't expecting it sometime,' he said, making an attempt to be cheerful. He couldn't have fooled mortal eyes, let alone mine. 'When are you leaving?'

'Two weeks,' I whispered.

Silence, but for our breathing and his heartbeat. 'Well at least I'll still have Jake.'

I wanted to cringe from the optimism in his voice, no matter how forced it was. I wanted to cry. Would he think me heartless when I couldn't? Or would he think I'm just too good at suppressing my emotions, at hiding them? I didn't want him to think of me as emotionless, even if that's all he could physically see me as.

'Jake's coming with us, Dad.'

His abandonment fully realised, Charlie slumped in his seat. 'Why? I can understand the rest of you wanting to be together; you're so close, even if none of you are truly related. Well, expect for Jasper and Rose. But Jacob's not a Cullen.'

I knew before I said the words that I might be taking this too far, but I needed him to understand that we'd be all right together. 'Jake _will_ be a Cullen one day, Dad. Because one day Nessie is going to be a Black.'

Charlie froze in his seat. 'Nessie and Jake? But she's only…' He trailed off as he thought of the things he didn't want to.

'Fifteen,' I supplied for him.

'Right,' he said slowly, as if trying to convince himself that this was the truth. 'And Jake is…' He paused again, uncertain.

Although Jake had looked almost twenty-five when he was just sixteen, he hadn't aged a day in the years since. 'Jake is twenty-two,' I reminded him.

Charlie stared at me for a moment, looking lost. 'How old are you, Bella?'

Realising how still I was standing, I shifted my weight from one leg to another and returned my attention to the dishes. 'I'm twenty-three, Dad. Don't be silly.'

'And Edward? How old's he, now? Cause I swear he hasn't aged a day since I met him when he was seventeen.'

I sighed. 'Dad, now you're being ridiculous.'

'Bells, I know I said once that I didn't want to know, as long as you were safe. But now I need to know what's going on.'

Hating Edward for not coming with me, I tried my hands on a dishtowel and walked over to where Charlie sat. Kneeling before him, I took both of his hands in mine to force him to look at me. 'Dad, I will be as honest as I can without hurting you, okay? You saw that Jacob's different. And you must know from living with Sue and her kids that Seth and Leah are, too. Well, we're different as well, but in another way. But I can't tell you the whole truth because there are people among my kind that would kill you for knowing about my family. Just know that I will love Edward forever, and we'll keep each other safe. And we'll never let anything happen to our daughter, ever.'

Charlie looked down at me with sad eyes. 'Renesmee, she is your daughter, isn't she? Not Edward's niece. His and your child.'

I nodded slowly. 'Yeah, Dad, she's mine.'

'And you're already letting Jacob stake a claim?'

I leaned back a little, uncertain how to explain it without giving too much away. 'It's complicated, Dad. It's just… There's no one who'll ever be able to look after her better, or care for her more, than Jacob will. That's enough for me.'

Charlie sighed and then helped me to my feet. 'I guess I can't argue with that. Will you come back and see me again before you go? With Edward and Nessie?'

After promising to return in a few days or so, I left Charlie to get ready for the game he was going to. He walked me to the door, where I turned around to say goodbye. 'I don't want you to go, Bells,' he said quietly, and we both knew he didn't mean back to the Cullens.

I attempted a small smile but it probably looked more like a grimace. 'I have to, Dad. We'll keep in touch, though. I'll still call.'

In my Ferrari it was only a short drive to Angela's new house, where she'd lived with Ben since they were married two years ago.

Once I pulled up into her driveway I took a moment to take stock of myself. I was all right. Charlie was all right. I knew he'd miss us as much as I already missed him, but it could not be helped. We didn't need the Volturi deciding that he was as much of a threat as they thought I'd been when they found out that I knew about them. I loved my father and I wanted to be near him, but not at the risk of his life. Besides, he had Sue to keep him company.

The door opened before I could ring the bell. She must have seen the car and wondered. I heard her heart skip, and her little gasp.

We stared at each other from a few feet away, analysing each other. She hadn't changed much, for which I was thankful, except for a noticeable swelling of her stomach. What did she see when she stared at me? I knew she'd notice more than Jessica would, for instance, but how much more?

Her hesitation started to worry me. Was I that different? I knew that we were meant to make humans wary of us, to give them some sort of warning against us. Not that it could do them much good if we decided that we wanted them. But my want for Angela was entirely bearable, and I'd fed only yesterday.

Then she smiled, and I realised that the silence probably hadn't been that long at all, for her. 'Oh, Bella! It's so good to see you! Are you here long?'

I returned the smile easily, intensely relieved. 'No, not long. We're just passing through to visit Charlie and I had to come see you!'

She led me into her house and gave me a quick tour, before leading us into the lounge room. 'Can I get you anything?'

'No, thankyou,' I replied. 'So tell me what's been happening, we should have kept in touch more.'

Angela was as efficient as always as she summed up the last five years in a couple of minutes. She seemed to know that I didn't want to hear as much about the others as about her. Apparently her and Ben had been trying for a child since they had been married, but they'd only found luck a few months ago. Ben was at work now, some technical job at a technical firm in Port Angeles.

'How about you and Edward? Any kids on the horizon for the two of you?'

Although it was a dangerous topic, I couldn't resist telling her about Nessie. 'We have a daughter,' I told her proudly. 'It was her fourth birthday yesterday.' I pulled out my purse, which had a picture of Edward with his arms around a Nessie who could have passed as around four. It had been her fifth birthday yesterday, but under normal circumstances I would have been eight months pregnant at my wedding if that had been the case.

Angela took the picture and smiled. 'She's beautiful,' she gushed. 'What's her name?'

I told her and her brow puckered in thought. 'Renesmee,' she murmured. 'Renesmee. Like Renee and Esme, right?'

I grinned at her that she'd noticed. 'Yes. She was a bit of a unique baby, I wanted to give her a unique name.'

'I love it,' Angela declared, handing me the picture back. I glanced at it, smiling, before putting it away again. 'Edward looks happy there,' she commented. 'Is he here with you?'

'Edward and Nessie are at Charlie's,' I told her. 'And he is happy. We're very happy.'

Angela's hands began to rub her stomach gently, and she looked at me strangely for a few moments. Then she smiled. 'You've done well with yourself. You have a wonderful husband, a beautiful daughter, and you're still in perfect shape. If I didn't know better I'd say you hadn't aged a day since I saw you last.'

I forced a smile. 'Wait until you're child's born then ring me so that I can say the same to you.'

Frowning slightly, she shook her head. 'No, this is different.' She sighed. 'Maybe I'm imagining things. Everyone always imagined the Cullens as different, as sort of timeless beauties. I think you've sort of gained that air about you, too. Maybe you've been spending too much time with them.' She smiled slightly. 'I think I am going crazy.'

I quickly turned the subject back to her and we didn't say another word about it.

When it was time to leave I wondered if this goodbye would be harder than leaving Charlie's this morning. But Angela made it so much easier. She gave me a quick hug and either didn't or pretended not to notice how cold and hard I was. 'We'll keep in touch more from now,' she promised. 'Maybe in a couple years we could go on vacation in Alaska.'

I made sure to commit every small detail of her face to memory. 'It was really good to see you, Angela. Good luck with the birth.'

She grimaced. 'Was it hard for you?'

I couldn't help it, I had to laugh. 'It was pretty bad for me,' I admitted, 'but my doctor told me that it's not usually anywhere near so bad. Nessie just decided to be difficult.'

'You'll have to tell me about it one time.'

'Yeah, maybe.'

Her eyes rested on my car. The corner of her lips twitched. 'Edward?'

'Uh-huh.'

'Doesn't surprise me.'

We shared one last smile before I stepped back. 'Bye, Angela.'

'Goodbye, Bella.'

The moment I pulled away from the curb my phone buzzed in my purse. I brought it to my ear without checking the ID. 'She'll be okay,' Edward said quietly.

I smiled. 'I know.'

'And so will Charlie.'

I felt an incredible wave of sadness wash over me. I knew that we were doing this for him, but for some reason it was him that this would hurt the most. 'Bella?' Edward's voice sounded worried.

'I love you, Edward.'

I could almost feel his smile through the phone, and I could certainly hear it in his voice. 'I love you too, Bella. More than anything. You know that.'

I did, but it only went halfway in making me feel better. I pressed my foot harder on the accelerator, knowing I wouldn't be fully comforted until I was in his arms.

**AN: Now to that homework… Knowing me, I'll have another chapter up in a couple of days. The more reviews I get, the more inspired I'll be. hint hint :)**


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